All systems go for Treble Winning Comets in 2019

The history-making ‘Treble winning’ Workington Comets will be back on track defending their titles in 2019 (Photo Dave Payne)

2018 TREBLE winners and defending Championship League winners Workington are “go” for the 2019 season.

During the run in to what became a historic end to the 2018 campaign, Comets owner Laura Morgan expressed her concerns for the future of the club and indicated her willingness to sell the club, or bring others on board to help financially and operationally, to share her passion and drive for the future of the sport.

Thankfully, since then, things have been moving at a pace and whilst there is still a lot of hard work and discussions ahead, Workington Speedway does now seem to be in a position to continue and, more importantly, defend their titles.

Allan Smith, leader of Allerdale Borough Council, has since met with Laura and the great news for the speedway is that the council are very much throwing their weight behind keeping the sport in the town.

This was a major step for the Comets and more talks will be taking place in the not too distant future.

Very informal discussions have also been had with fans and we have already been approached by a couple of local businesses who are keen to come on board to help ensure the future of the Comets; and these discussions continue but already they have put the club on a better footing.

These deals have yet to be finalised but should be in place within the next few weeks.

Additionally, anyone who wishes to get involved with the speedway in Workington, in any way, should get in contact with Laura, Steve or Tony to see how this can be best achieved.

Laura Morgan then explained the current situation, saying: “I seriously didn’t think we’d be able to do this but, with the offers of support we have already had, it now looks like we are in a position to start looking at the longer term future of the sport in the town.

“These are tremendously exciting times and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves as there is a mountain of work to be done and a lot of support still to find. But, if we can continue in the way we have over the past couple of weeks since our historic finish to the season, then I am confident the speedway will be around in the town for some time, starting, unexpectedly, with the 2019 season. Naturally there is a certain buzz around our success and now is the time to capitalise on this and ‘strike while the iron is hot’ as they say!”

Steve Whitehead, co-promoter said: “Now we have done what we set out to do and win something big, we now need to really focus on making sure the speedway is on a sound footing, to maximise the revenues we can get by offering exposure for local businesses. We need to manage our costs accordingly as well as looking forward and doing what needs to be done for the future of the sport in the town.”

Team manager and fellow co-promoter Tony Jackson, who attended the AGM on behalf of the Comets, added: “What was agreed at the AGM was a start but there is a long way to go to ensure the sport of speedway exists in the long term, not just in Workington but throughout the UK.

“All clubs have expressed their need to reduce costs and many clubs have indicated that they can no longer continue to lose money. These are clearly challenging times and there is no quick fix but, with the decisions made this week at the AGM coupled with the offers of support that we have received from various parties so far, it looks like we are now in a position to continue at Workington; which is fantastic news for everyone. However, this is just the start of the journey if we are looking at a long term future and a lot of hard work lies ahead.”